Balanced Offense Helps UNC Roll Over High Point

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Fifth-ranked North
Carolina built a 16-1 lead and never looked back as the Tar Heels
defeated High Point 20-8 Saturday afternoon at Fetzer Field before
a crowd of 1,942 fans.

Fifteen different Tar Heels scored goals in the game as Carolina
improved to 10-3 on the season with its seventh successive win.
High Point dropped to 3-11 on the campaign despite playing the Tar
Heels even in the second half.

Joe Costigan, Jake Bailey and Matt Shannon all had their first
goals in Tar Heel uniforms while Carson Clough had his first career
assist.

High Point was led by Dan Lomas and Mitchell Dupere who each
scored two goals. Brad James notched a goal and three assists for
the Panthers.

Two landmark goals came in the opening period for the Tar Heels
as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead just 12:19 into the match. When
Jimmy Bitter scored with 9:07 to play in the first quarter he
became 51st Tar Heel in history to score 50 career goals. Then at
the four-minute mark, Marcus Holman scored an unassisted goal for
the Tar Heels to put UNC up 4-0. Holman's goal extended his
consecutive games streak with a goal to 28 in a row, breaking the
the school record of 27 games set by Mac Ford from May 21, 1983
through May 19, 1985. Holman's 28-game goal scoring streak began
against Detroit on February 18, 2012.

Carolina's win was the 10th of the season. The Tar Heels have
now won 10 or more games in each of the first five seasons of Coach
Joe Breschi's head coaching tenure. He is the first UNC head coach
to accomplish that. The last time UNC won 10 or more games in a
season as many as five years in a row was six successive campaigns
from 1989-94.

UNC outshot the Panthers 43-18 and had a 46-32 edge in ground
balls. UNC won 19 of 31 face-offs with Frankie Kelly going 10 for
17 at the X while leading the team with six ground balls. R.G.
Keenan was a perfect 9-for-9 at the X to go with five ground balls
before giving way to Kelly.

Both teams shot the ball well with 28 goals in the game and only
17 saves. The pace of play led to a plethora of turnovers with the
Panthers committing 22 and the Tar Heels 16. UNC was excellent in
the clearing game, however, going 23 for 23.

After leading 7-1 after the opening period, UNC outscored the
Panthers 6-0 in the second period with six different players
scoring goals. The Tar Heels opened the second half with three
goals in the opening 1:18 before High Point dominated the remainder
of the period, running off six successive goals to cut UNC's lead
to 16-7 heading into the fourth quarter. Carolina then outscored
the Panthers 4-1 in the final frame with Joe Costigan netting a
pair of tallies.

UNC returns to action next Friday when it plays host to the 2013
ACC Tournament at Kenan Stadium. Maryland plays Virginia at 5 p.m.
in the opening semifinal while Carolina takes on Duke at 7:30 p.m.
in the second semifinal game. The championship game is Sunday,
April 28 at 1 p.m.